The present invention relates to tile roofing and, in particular, to the supporting of tiles along an eave concourse of a roof.
Tiles used in tile roofing have traditionally been laid such that their upper or head ends are directly supported by the solid sheathing or by battens placed on the sheathing in parallel relation to the eave edge of the roof, and their lower or nose ends rest upon the head end of the next lower tile. Thus, all of the tiles are coplanar. A rib-and-groove connection between adjacent tiles helps retain the tiles in position.
It will be appreciated that the nose ends of the lowermost tiles, i.e., those disposed along each eave edge or eave course of the roof have no tiles on which to rest. Therefore, in order to support the nose ends of such eave course tiles, it has been customary to secure an elongate wooden starter board to the roof sheathing beneath such nose ends, or to provide a raised fascia board, upon which the nose ends can rest. Both of those arrangements, however, involve a drawback as relates to water drainage. That is, the starter board and fascia board create water dams at the eave line which can lead to rotting of the wood.
It has been heretofore proposed in U.S. Robinson Pat. No. 3,967,419 issued on July 6, 1976, to provide a water gutter with an upstanding wall upon which the nose ends of the eave course tiles may rest. Although not expressly stated therein, it is presumed that water-damming is to be avoided by extending the lower edge of the waterproof felt material to the top of the wall. However, this portion of the felt material is unsupported from beneath and could rupture under the weight of an appreciable water build-up. Also, the area beneath the raised end of the felt is exposed to a greater extent and increases the chances for damage to occur if water enters this area.
It has also been heretofore proposed in U.S. Tiernan Pat. No. 3,137,970 issued June 23, 1964, to support eave course shingles (not tiles) by means of a starter strip having a base mounted to the roof sheathing and an upstanding lip on which the shingles rest. Disposed behind the lip, the strip has a plurality of ridges extending parallel to the eave course and which also support the shingles. Seals are created by contact of the undersides of the shingles with these ridges in order to prevent the rearward migration of water. However, such line seals disadvantageously tend to dam-up downwardly flowing water.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to minimize or obviate problems of the type discussed above.
Another object is to enable the eave course tiles of a roof to be securely supported without presenting the danger of water dam-ups.
A further object is to provide a strong, yet relatively inexpensive, easily fabricated starter strip which supports roofing tiles and allows for the escape of water.